UN Office of the Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide and the International Criminal Court Prosecutor: Investigate the Possibility that Israel is Committing the Crime of Genocide Against the Palestinian People

While there has been recent criticism of those taking the position that Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians, there is a long history of human rights scholarship and legal analysis that supports the assertion. Prominent scholars of the international law crime of genocide and human rights authorities take the position that Israel’s policies toward the Palestinian people could constitute a form of genocide. Those policies range from the 1948 mass killing and displacement of Palestinians to a half-century of military occupation and, correspondingly, the discriminatory legal regime governing Palestinians, repeated military assaults on Gaza, and official Israeli statements expressly favoring the elimination of Palestinians.

Palestine: some European governments are attempting to counter a genocide of Palestinians by recognizing Palestine as a State, with rights under international law. Sweden recognizes the state of Palestine. Spain’s lawmakers have passed a motion asking the government to recognize the State of Palestine. Similar requests by the parliaments of Great Britain and Ireland have been refused. A similar motion and non-binding resolution is underway in France and in Denmark. With the exception of countries mentioned and the U.S., Canada, Japan, Columbia, Mexico, Panama, Norway, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Portugal, the Netherlands, Italy, Latvia, Finland, Estonia, Belgium, Greece, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, most other countries in the world have already recognized Palestinian statehood. A study by the World Zionist Organization finds a worldwide increase of anti-Semitic acts by 383% over the same period last year, during Israel’s waging of Operation Protective Edge against Gaza. The percentage rises to 100% in Canada, 435% in Europe and 1200% in South America.

Lemkin and the UN convention’s drafters understood that genocide did not require death camps; it could also be achieved gradually through intentional and systematic abuse and neglect. Their definition raises troubling questions about Israel’s treatment of Gaza, aside from military attacks. Does, for example, forcing the enclave’s two million inhabitants to depend on aquifers polluted with sea water constitute genocide?..

And what to make of a plan just disclosed by the Israeli media indicating that Netanyahu and his allies have been secretly plotting to force many Palestinians into Sinai, with the US arm-twisting the Egyptians into agreement? If true, the bombing campaigns of the past six years may be better understood as softening-up operations before a mass expulsion from Gaza. Such a policy would certainly satisfy Lemkin’s definition of genocide.

There is a need to at least consider the term genocide and its application to Israel and Palestine… It is time for an honest assessment of Israeli actions- not just in this recent Gaza ‘offensive’ but in terms of its entire method of occupying and controlling Palestinians and their land. Those of us studying international relations and international law have an obligation to try to transcend the discursive politics and the growing pressure to avoid, qualify or stifle our expressions and reactions to the politics of the region.

Bolivian Foreign Ministry also calls on the international community to intervene to stop “the genocide” and stressed that “should respect and comply with international agreements and treaties.” The Foreign Ministry also expressed concern about the operation called “[Protective] Edge” that has killed more than 80 Palestinian civilians, including children, adolescents and women, and injured more than 500.

“We urge you to investigate and punish the crimes committed by Israel in this region, in the framework of international law, human rights and international humanitarian law,” the statement said.

Bolivia joins the call of the people of Alba, who strongly condemned the cruelty against the Palestinian people, as a human slaughter has described President Mahmoud Abbas. Venezuela recently criticized Israel for bombing Gaza… and asked the mediation of international organizations.

“Today, colonialism, including settler colonialism, is absolutely prohibited. Colonialism, however, was not expressly prohibited by international law at the time Israel was established. The normative shift began only in the 1950s as result of anti-colonial liberation movements, and colonialism became expressly prohibited in 1960, when the UN adopted the Declaration on Granting Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples. Since the prohibition does not apply retroactively, earlier colonial processes in which settler colonial societies had established themselves as nation-states were de facto immunized and normalized by UN-led ecolonization. As a result, the dominant legal opinion is that the legal framework of colonialism is not applicable within the borders of existing states, even where founded through aggression, colonization, ethnic cleansing or genocide, such as the United States, Australia and Israel.”

5. ISRAEL’S OBLIGATIONS UNDER INTERNATIONAL LAW
Several bodies of international law apply to Israel’s conduct in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem… International criminal law, which establishes individual criminal responsibility for certain violations and abuses of international human rights law and international humanitarian law, such as war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide, as well as torture, extrajudicial executions and enforced disappearance…

5.5 INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL LAW
Individuals, including military personnel and law enforcement officers, can be held criminally
responsible for certain violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian
law.
Under the principle of universal jurisdiction, all states have an obligation to investigate and, where
enough admissible evidence is gathered, prosecute crimes under international law, including
genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, torture, extrajudicial executions and enforced
disappearances.